SOIL & WATER
is a large-scale artistic research project and exhibition. The project was developed jointly by Associate Professor Basak
Senova from the University of Applied Arts Vienna and Professor Johan Thom from the University of Pretoria in collaboration
with the NIROX Foundation.
SOIL & WATER is a large-scale artistic research project and exhibition that unfolds
within the ancient ancestral land of the Cradle of Humankind, a UNESCO World Heritage Site in South Africa. Developed collaboratively
by Prof. Johan Thom of the University of Pretoria, Assoc. Prof. Dr Basak Senova of the University of Applied Arts Vienna,
in collaboration with the NIROX Foundation. The project brings together international artists whose practices engage with
the fragile and interdependent relationship between soil and water, the two fundamental substances that sustain all life on
Earth.
SOIL & WATER is conceived as a modular platform; it opens with the extensive exhibition
in November 2025, unfolds through April 2026, featuring exhibitions, residencies, dialogues, performances, concerts, community
engagement, and a forthcoming publication.
The participating artists, working from South Africa, Austria,
India, Turkey, Ukraine, France, Germany, Sweden, Ethiopia, and beyond, anchor the project in lived realities while extending
it into shared imaginaries.
The project took root nearly three years
ago, when NIROX founder Benji Liebmann voiced urgent concern about the pollution of rivers and groundwater in the Cradle,
threatening the integrity of this unique biosphere. This ecological emergency became the catalyst for a curatorial response
that insists art must do more than illustrate facts. It must create meaning and urgency. Soil and water are active agents.
They store and release, conceal and reveal, preserve and transform. They are ecological and ideological, mnemonic and political.
They carry time, memory, and history. They shape life and dissolve it. SOIL & WATER brings these dimensions into visibility,
inviting artistic practices to unearth what lies
hidden beneath the surface: the sediments of memory, the entangled human
and non-human worlds, and fragile futures.
Curated by Basak Senova und Johan Thom
SOIL
& WATER is a collaborative project developed by the University of Pretoria, the NIROX Foundation,. The project is supported
by the upported by Arts Promotion Centre Finland, Art Rooms Kyrenia, ARUCAD – Arkin University of Creative Arts and Design,
Austrian Cultural Forum Pretoria, BIENALSUR — Bienal Internacional de Arte Contemporáneo del Sur, BMKÖS — Ministry of the
Arts, Culture, the Civil Service and Sport (Bundesminister für Kunst, Kultur, öffentlichen Dienst und Sport), Danish Arts
Foundation, Embassy of Austria in South Africa, Embassy of Spain in South Africa, The Finnish Cultural Foundation, IASPIS
– International Programme for Visual and Applied Arts, Italian Cultural Institute of Pretoria, LifeAgriScience Applied Research
Services, SKF — Support Art and Research & KKP — Art and Communication Practices, University of Applied Arts Vienna, Kunsthaus
Dahlem Berlin, L’Accolade Foundation Paris, The Claire and Edoardo Villa Will Trust South Africa, Pro Helvetia — Swiss Arts
Council, Ukrainian Institute Ukraine, and Techizart Istanbul.
Complementing this, Diane Victor’s exhibition
at the Javett Art Centre, University of Pretoria, curated by Senova and Thom, opened on 28 October 2025 and is presented as
an extension of the SOIL & WATER project.
For further information and updates, please visit www.soilandwater.net
